Being a Writer

Peter Elbow is Professor of English at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Before writing A Community of Writers, he wrote two other books about writing: Writing Without Teachers and Writing with Power: Techniques for Mastering the Writing Process. He is author of a book of essays about learning and teaching: Embracing Contraries. He also wrote Oppositions in Chaucer, as well as numerous essays about writing and teaching. His most recent book, What Is English? explores current issues in the profession of English. He has taught at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Franconia College, Evergreen State College, and the State University of New York at Stony Brook-where for five years he directed the Writing Program. He served for four years on the Executive Council of the Modern Language Association and is now a member of the Executive Committee of the Conference on College Composition and Communication. He has given talks and workshops at many colleges and university. He attended Williams College and Harvard University and has an M.A. from Exeter College, Oxford University, and a Ph.D. from Brandeis University. Pat Belanoff is Director of Writing Programs at the State University of New York-Stony Brook. She is president of the SUNY Council on Writing and a member of the College Steering Committee of NCTE. Pat is a co-author (with Besty Rorschach and Mia Oberlink) of The Right Handbook, now in its second edition. She has also co-edited (with Marcia Dickson) Portfolios: Process and Product and (with Peter Elbow and Sheryl Fontaine) Nothing Begins With an N: New Investigations of Freewriting. Pat has a degree in medieval literature from New York University and continues to teach and publish in this area, too.